Virgil J. Vogel (1918-1994) was an historian, socialist political organizer, activist and University of Chicago alumnus. Born in Keota, Iowa, Vogel attended Chicago State University (B.E., 1942) and University of Chicago (M.A. 1949, Ph.D. 1966). Vogel's academic research was in the field of Native American history and language. His dissertation American Indian Medicine was published by University of Oklahoma Press in 1970 and remains a definitive text in the field. He also published Indian Place Names of Illinois (1963); This Country Was Ours: A Documentary History of the American Indian (1972); Iowa Place Names of Indian Origin (1983); Indian Names in Michigan (1986); and Indian Names on Wisconsin's Map (1991).
By his late teens, Vogel was dedicating much of his energy toward political activism and organization, particularly within the Young People's Socialist League, where he held a succession of local and national offices, eventually becoming the national chairman. He was a longtime member of the Socialist Party, and played a leading role in many smaller socialist and radical organizations. Vogel's political essays, reviews and commentary were widely published in the leftist press from the 1930s-1950s, and he was instrumental in reviving the radical publisher Charles H. Kerr Company in the 1970s. While Vogel remained committed to the Socialist Party for most of his life, he was also sympathetic to the New Left and anti-war movements of the 1950s-1970s.
Vogel's teaching career reflected his commitment to social justice. From 1942-1967, he worked as an elementary and high school teach in Chicago public schools. He later taught in the City Colleges of Chicago system, developing some of the schools' earliest courses on minority history and ethnic studies. He taught Native American adult education courses, and was a lecturer on Native American medicine at University of Illinois-Chicago in 1983.
One of Vogel's allies was Benjamin Williger, a Socialist Party organizer based in Elmhurst, Illinois. Williger was an early member of YPSL, and went on to become influential in the Socialist Party, serving in state offices and on the National Action Committee and National Executive Committee. Williger ran for Illinois State Treasurer in 1936.
From the guide to the Vogel, Virgil J. Collection, 1903-1980, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)
